Treating emotional consequences of sexual assault and domestic violence via telehealth

Abstract

Although many evidence-based treatments exist to address emotional and psychological difficulties emanating from sexual and physical violence, rural populations experience considerable difficulties accessing such services. The advent of distal technologies, such as secure, encrypted videoconferencing, now makes it possible to connect rural clients with specialized, evidence-based services. This chapter describes how a university-based mental healthcare clinic utilizes telehealth technologies to partner with rural domestic violence/rape crisis centers and provide empirically supported therapies to treat the emotional consequences of domestic violence and sexual assault. Minimal technology training is required for the therapists, clients, or staff at the distal domestic violence/rape crisis centers, though an information technology specialist is regularly consulted. All cases are staffed by master’s level therapists who are supervised by licensed doctoral level clinical psychologists and receive extensive training in trauma intervention theory and techniques. This arrangement allows for a symbiotic relationship that benefits both doctoral student trainees and assault survivors alike. Student therapists are allowed increased access to a specialized clinical population, and clients receive free, evidenced-based, trauma-focused therapy. Preliminary evidence examining the feasibility and efficacy of delivering empirically supported therapies for trauma survivors via videoconferencing shows that clients demonstrated large magnitude decrements in depression and PTSD symptoms and reported high satisfaction with services.